Savings

Paper Versus Plastic?

Tunie’s uses a biodegradable plastic bags. Most plastic bags such as this are disposed of in a landfill. Under conditions normally present in a landfill, 50% of this bag will degrade every 4 years.

We often get questions about this decision as there is some misconception that paper is always better then plastic. Tunie’s has carefully researched the paper versus plastic options and feels that biodegradable plastic actually offer the more eco-conscious choice.

Causes pollution:

Paper production emits air pollution, specifically 70 percent more pollution than the production of plastic bags [source: Thompson]. According to certain studies, manufacturing paper emits 80 percent more greenhouse gases [source: Lilienfield]. Consider that making paper uses trees that, instead, could be absorbing carbon dioxide. The paper bag making process also results in 50 times more water pollutants than making plastic bags [source: Thompson].

Consumes energy:

Even though petroleum goes into making plastic, it turns out that making a paper bag consumes four times as much energy as making a plastic bag, meaning making paper consumes a good deal of fuel [source: reusablebags.com].

Consumes water:

The production of paper bags uses three times the amount of water it takes to make plastic bags [source: Lilienfield].

Inefficient recycling:

The process of recycling paper can be inefficient — often consuming more fuel than it would take to make a new bag [source: Milstein].